The overall Aldi experience

pickledonionspaceraider

There is an Aldi two minutes from my home
I love the shop, but not the stress..I admit it does stress me out.
Hence I mainly shop online (from elsewhere)  - and pop in Aldi probably once every three months 

It is the fast pace of the tills, and the fact that I cannot get everything I need under one roof - that put me off.  I think it is a great concept if you don't mind elbowing your way round.  I don't usually mind queing but even standing in line I am mentally preparing myself to get my shopping launched in my general direction. 

Having said that, it is extreamly time saving for customers as well as them, as you can be in and out much quicker than the bigger supermarkets.  You might have bruises but you will have your groceries haha

maman

Not sure what you want to buy but Aldi has changed hugely pickled onion raider in recent years. There was a time when I probably did my shopping 50:50 in Aldi and Sainsburys. Now I can get 90%+ in Aldi and only need Sainsburys for occasional spices and a few brands I still enjoy. 

Pollycat

I make my shopping list as things are laid out in Aldi.
I'm usually in by 08:30 and there's very few people in at that time so no bruises for me.
I find it a pleasant experience.

mikb

pickledonionspaceraider said:

the fact that I cannot get everything I need under one roof - that put me off. 

The fact that I couldn't get everything I wanted under one roof is what made me start looking elsewhere from my local (12mins walk) Morrisons. A number of lines I want to buy disappeared ("Temporarily out of stock" for weeks, and then just quietly lost), or are very patchy availability. That, and prices creeping up.
ALDI is a 25 mins walk, but I can find stuff I want, decent price reduction, so I've shifted things that I could buy in Morrisons, to ALDI (biscuits, cereals, cakes, frozen goods).

Pollycat said:

I make my shopping list as things are laid out in Aldi.

 I now have two (re-usable) shopping lists, one in Morrisons order, one in Aldi order, and put quantities next to things I need

A._Badger

millie said:

renegadefm said:

njm123 said:

The not allowing the basket through in mine is to stop the baskets being stolen rather than any goods.  They've had a number of customers who packed the groceries in the basket at the till, paid and then walked out of the store and put the basket in the car boot and driven off, rather than bother using a bag and packing/unpacking it. 

Thats just crazy,  I cant believe the nerve of some people, why would you steal an Aldi basket, its not like you can use it for anything else. But then I suppose Aldi's way of not allowing customers to pack as each item is scanned creates this situation.
If you compare to Asda,  they even offer to help you pack, not that we need to,  but the difference of the 2 experiences are shocking really. 

 I much prefer Aldi so much quicker at the checkouts. It drives me mad in Asda the customer stands packing their bags at the checkout then decides to start searching in their bag for a purse. I just like to be in and out as quickly as possible.

I'm the same with Aldi. Sainsbury's is the main offender for slow checkouts, in my experience. Their tills are often woefully understaffed while supervisors stand around clucking at each another like so many broody hens.I imagine they are too far up the management hierarchy to actually open an empty till themselves!

Sainsbury's checkout staff also tend to have quite protracted conversations with familiar customers, which might be good from the point of view of combating social isolation but is not helping the blood pressure of customers waiting in the lengthy queues. Aldi seems to get the balance right.

maman

A._Badger said:

I'm the same with Aldi. Sainsbury's is the main offender for slow checkouts, in my experience. Their tills are often woefully understaffed while supervisors stand around clucking at each another like so many broody hens.I imagine they are too far up the management hierarchy to actually open an empty till themselves!

Sainsbury's checkout staff also tend to have quite protracted conversations with familiar customers, which might be good from the point of view of combating social isolation but is not helping the blood pressure of customers waiting in the lengthy queues. Aldi seems to get the balance right.

I like the Aldi experience too but I suspect that soon you won't have a choice in Sainsbury's, slow or otherwise.
I'd estimate that about 50% or more of the checkouts in my local (largish) Sainsbury's have been replaced in the last few months. Some with self service checkouts and some with those bar code reader things. Generally I make a point of using a normal checkout (to try to preserve jobs) but the last 2 weeks I've used the bar code reader as it makes it easy to see how close I am to the amount I want to spend to use my 15% off voucher. I'm using the vouchers to buy storecupboad items that I can't get in Aldi. When the vouchers end then so will my love/hate relationship with Sainsbury's. 

od244051

With Sainsburys' checkouts, I bought some cakes from their cake counter the other week for a friend's birthday (one of them is her favourite). The cashier scanned the box of cakes and the transaction disappeared off the screen for about a minute. Cashier said it happens everytime a customer buys anything from the cake counter. It's embarrassing and Sainsburys are not doing anything about it.

ZeroSum

I'll be in the minority, but I'm with the OP. 
The queues are awful. I once got shuffled onto an empty till, cashier didn't turn up so got shuffled back, but now further behind. I left stuff on till & walked out.  Xmas gone, I popped in & just walked straight back out as queues were horrific. Went to Tesco instead & got straight in & out no bother. 

I really don't get the quality thing either. Their fruit & veg is mouldy, I've had bread buns go mouldy before used by date. Their tinned stuff is poor as is a lot of their toiletries. The range is poor & shelves not stocked properly. 
Its not massively cheaper either. Pretty much all the basics like milk & eggs are exactly the same price as the main supermarkets. 

That said, since I've discovered zipzero, it's made wombling a bit better given how scruffy Aldi is & how many old receipts are just lying about everywhere, so it's now worth popping in for a few bit & bobs. 

A._Badger

ZeroSum said:

I'll be in the minority, but I'm with the OP. 
The queues are awful. I once got shuffled onto an empty till, cashier didn't turn up so got shuffled back, but now further behind. I left stuff on till & walked out.  Xmas gone, I popped in & just walked straight back out as queues were horrific. Went to Tesco instead & got straight in & out no bother. 

I really don't get the quality thing either. Their fruit & veg is mouldy, I've had bread buns go mouldy before used by date. Their tinned stuff is poor as is a lot of their toiletries. The range is poor & shelves not stocked properly. 
Its not massively cheaper either. Pretty much all the basics like milk & eggs are exactly the same price as the main supermarkets. 

That said, since I've discovered zipzero, it's made wombling a bit better given how scruffy Aldi is & how many old receipts are just lying about everywhere, so it's now worth popping in for a few bit & bobs. 

I can only assume you have a special Aldi branch somewhere in your personal space-tine continuum which specially stocks 'mouldy' fruit and veg, strangely inferior canned goods, charges higher prices and has deliberately extended checkout queues to ensure your maximum misery.. I'm glad I don't live there. 

BooJewels

A._Badger said:

I can only assume you have a special Aldi branch somewhere in your personal space-tine continuum which specially stocks 'mouldy' fruit and veg, strangely inferior canned goods, charges higher prices and has deliberately extended checkout queues to ensure your maximum misery.. I'm glad I don't live there. 

I think I might complain, none of the Aldi stores I frequent do any of those things.  I think something like 75% of my fresh fruit and veg comes from Aldi and I've never had a single scrap of mould, why am I losing out - it's not fair.

If people don't like Aldi or just don't get it - then don't shop there - it's really that simple, you have free choice.